TO CONTAIN ALIEN LIFE FORMS, MAYBE?: Textura Design, a home-based startup in West Seattle, since late 2002 has produced a humble but clever device for resealing plastic bags, called Clip-N-Seal. The soft plastic rod-and-clip device has attracted attention from dairies, manufacturers and the military, among other customers.

Now the Clip-N-Seal (three for $4.99, available in four sizes) may be going into outer space, says company founder D.L. Byron, 38. The company shipped a dozen 40-inch-long Clip-N-Seals, at $7 apiece, to NASA earlier this month.

NASA won't say when, or whether, or how the clips will be used. The next opportunity they'll have to fly is aboard the shuttle Discovery when it launches sometime between July 13 and July 31-- depending on weather conditions -- to resupply the International Space Station.

"All NASA will say is they're for a large object," Byron said.

The British Antarctic Survey is also considering the clips for use on its next mission.

"Not bad for something we invented to keep potato chips fresh," he said.

MICROSOFT'S FRIGIDAIRE PROJECT: It's one of the greatest mysteries in the history of the household appliance -- and Microsoft has solved it.

The whole thing began when researchers at Microsoft's lab in Cambridge, England, came up with a project called the SenseCam, in which a wearable camera automatically captures moments of a person's life by taking pictures when it senses changes in the scene in front of them. The project was publicly unveiled last year.

But someone in the lab saw the camera and came up with an alternative use, explained Rick Rashid, Microsoft Research senior vice president, during a presentation last week at the MobiSys mobile systems conference in Seattle. The person decided to put the camera inside a refrigerator, to capture images of people as they retrieved items from inside.

And that's when the mystery in question was inadvertently solved.

"Purely from a research perspective, we have now proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that when you close the refrigerator door, the light goes off," Rashid said. "You can look for that in Nature or something."

INTEL EMBRACES APPLE: Apple made a sharp departure last week by announcing that it would switch from IBM to Intel microprocessors in its Macintosh line, forging a partnership with the big chipmaker better known for its role inside PCs running Microsoft Windows.

But which company was more excited about their newfound partnership? It might well have been Intel, judging from what happened when the pact was announced during an Apple event at San Francisco's Moscone Center. As Intel CEO Paul Otellini walked on stage, Apple CEO Steve Jobs extended his arm to shake hands. But Otellini instead gave Jobs a hug that looked awkward in part because it clearly caught the iconic Apple executive by surprise.

In a post on BusinessWeek's Tech Beat weblog, Peter Burrows called it "the hug that wasn't." Burrows quoted the observations of an anonymous onlooker: "In this sense, Steve is like the Queen of England. You just don't hug the queen."

DREAMING OF DENALI: When you are on the side of a 20,000-foot-tall mountain, the weather can turn against you.

Unfortunately that's what happened to REI Chairman and WRQ co-founder Doug Walker -- who had to abandon his summit attempt on the Alaska mountain last month.

"We kind of got into a low-pressure thing that went on forever," said Walker, who spent nine days between 14,000 and 17,000 feet waiting for a break in the weather.

Walker, who was named chairman of outdoor retailer REI in March, said he has never climbed Denali before. That's because it takes a three-week commitment -- time he never had when running Seattle software company WRQ.

Since the sale of WRQ in December, Walker has been spending more time in the mountains. But -- as was reported in last week's Insider column -- Walker hasn't completely traded in his khakis for gaiters. The 54-year-old executive is currently sharing office space with Madrona Venture Group, helping the high-profile Seattle venture capital firm evaluate deals and portfolio companies.

Could that lead to another startup company?

"I've got some things I am working on," Walker said in his South Carolina drawl. "They are not cooked enough at this point."